Backstage At The VMA’s

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The artists are busy getting ready for MTV’s Video Music Awards tonight at the Staples Center. AMP/Los Angeles is there and ran into Gotye, Ne-Yo, Kraeyshawn,Kat DeLuna and host Kevin Hart backstage. Here’s what went down.

Ne-Yo arrived backstage at the VMAs with his signature head-wear. Not only can you pick up one of his stylish hats at Saks Fifth Avenue, but you can also expect a new album, R.E.D. (Realizing Every Dream) dropping this fall. It was set for a September release, but Ne-Yo wanted to make sure everything was “right.”

“My last album — for me personally — I feel like I let some people down with my last album,” he said. “It was not as good as it should have been. It didn’t do as well as it should have done. The stories, the whole thing didn’t come together the way it was supposed to. So this album is not necessarily the re-up, but it’s me getting back to what it is that I do — focusing on the music completely and solely.”

“Let Me Love You” is Ne-Yo’s latest single and while he mentioned he’s not likely to co-write with many artists he made an exception on this song.

“For this particular record I got the opportunity to work with Sia,” the Grammy Award winning R&B singer-songwriter added. “We finally got the opportunity to work together and ‘Let Me Love You’ was the result.”

Look for Ne-Yo’s new album R.E.D. this November.

The “Gucci Gucci” queen Kraeyshawn also joined AMP backstage. After plotting how to crash one of the biggest nights in music, learning that her favorite cities to visit (after touring the world) are San Francisco, London and Santa Cruz, we wanted to know what we could expect from her debut album.

“Expect everything, ya know. I think every song is so different from each other,” she said. “I wanted every song to represent a genre of music. I think I did that pretty well cause it’s very eclectic. You got punk inspired tracks, R&B inspired tracks, club house tracks, [and] pop tracks. We got ‘Gucci Gucci’ everybody loves that song!”

Kreayshawn’s debut album Somethin’ Bout Kreay is out September 18.

Pop singer Kat DeLuna, graced AMP Radio backstage too. She wants to make the world dance and her new single “Wanna See U Dance” off her forthcoming sophomore album is available now.

And it wouldn’t be a MTV Award show if Jersey Shore wasn’t represented. Vinnie stopped by to talk about the last season of the show.

“Every season that we shoot, we don’t know when it’s gonna end or not. We shoot every one like it’s our last,” he said. “The first one was the last one, the second one was the last one up until the sixth one seriously. We always said this is gonna be the last one … whatever, but at the end we kind of got a real feel for it and it was sad because, just to think that we might not be at the VMAs in a couple of years.”

Vinnie also shared his worries about the show being over.

“It scares me. How can I let this go? But that’s why I’m gonna stay motivated,” he said. “I have a really creative imagination that people never get to see. That’s why I’m better when it comes to scripted things and these other MTV shows that they put me on.”

The beginning of the end for Jersey Shore starts October 4 on MTV.

Backstage was also this year’s VMA host, actor and stand-up comedian Kevin Hart.

“This is a huge opportunity for me,” Hart said. “This is a chance for me to make a statement. I’m not going to try to be safe or politically correct … I’m not going to do what they want me to do. I’m going to be myself. It’s the VMAs! Something is going to happen.”

So does Hart have any surprises up his sleeve for artists who have approached him asking not to call him or her out on something?

“Even if I do say anything, it’s all in a playful way,” he said. “People should laugh at themselves.”

Finally, Video of the Year nominee Gotye stopped by to chat. If he wins, who will he thank?

“I would probably just have to dedicate it to Natasha Pincus who was the director and producer of the film clip,” he said. “The concept was all hers and the film clip has been such a huge factor in the song being shared so widely.”

Filmed in two days, Gotye said “Somebody That I Used To Know” was a long painting process.

“It was two days in total, but the second day was 26 hours straight of standing around being painted,” he said.

The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards airs live on Thursday, Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. ET.